


Sunkissed Skin

by Kittenshift17



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Pranks, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 13:22:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10491801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittenshift17/pseuds/Kittenshift17
Summary: The sun was kissing every single freckle on Lily Evans's nose the day she punched him in the face. Her long red hair glittered like rubies under candlelight. James Potter may or may not have been starry-eyed and drooling at the sight she made in the late afternoon sun that poured through the common room window. He may or may not also have told her she looked like a crimson-haired angel just waiting to lure him to new heights of carnality.





	

The sun was kissing every single freckle on Lily Evans's nose the day she punched him in the face. Her long red hair glittered like rubies under candlelight. James Potter may or may not have been starry-eyed and drooling at the sight she made in the late afternoon sun that poured through the common room window. He may or may not also have told her she looked like a crimson-haired angel just waiting to lure him to new heights of carnality.

Who was to say just what he'd blurted?

Not Sirius, of course. Sirius was not to be trusted. With anything. Excepting pranking business and the perfect position to bring a girl to orgasm. All other things coming out of Sirius Black's mouth were utter twaddle and James Charlus Potter would, under no circumstance, believe his fellow Marauder's detailed and wildly exaggerated account of just what had happened the day Lily Evans finally lost all sense of decorum in addition to her temper and punched one, James Potter, right in the mouth.

Certainly Peter couldn't be trusted on the matter when it came to confirming the words that had waltzed themselves off his tongue to so antagonise the fiery red-headed witch. Peter was still too busy laughing his arse off every time he caught sight of James's shocked and slightly dazed expression. He was also rumoured to have been too busy eating sweets at the time of the incident in order to effectively say, one way or the other, just what James might have said to so irk his fire-haired fixation.

There was, of course, a rather likely possibility that if anyone were to give a truthful and unexaggerated version of events, it would be Remus Lupin, resident werewolf and all around chocolate addict. But James Potter may or may not have been bribing the said chocoholic werewolf to keep his big mouth shut unless it was to defend James's honour to the irate witch who still hadn't spoken another word to him – not even to apologise – almost a week after the incident.

After all, James Potter didn't want anyone hearing that his most recent bloodied lip had come, not at the hands of a wild tangle with vampires down in the Three Broomsticks or perhaps a rogue bludger he'd heroically stopped single-handedly, but instead at the well-thrown fist of the girl he'd been in love with since he'd been eleven years old. He was keeping that very much under wraps, thank you very much, and anyone who said otherwise – anyone not Sirius Black, who was not to be believed, no matter the cost – could just take it up with his bloodied lip.

"You're still pouting, aren't you?" Padfoot asked him while James was sitting with his arms folded over his chest and his annoyed and slightly doe-eyed gaze fixed on the girl he had every intention of marrying just as soon as he could convince her that he wasn't a toerag – whatever that was.

"I don't pout, Padfoot," James retort, "I do, however, plot, plan and otherwise procrastinate. Do you know what else I happen to do, Sirius?"

"Prank?" Sirius asked, his slate eyes lighting up at the very idea as he followed James's gaze to where one, Lily Evans, was sitting across the classroom with Snivellus and pretending she was unaware of the mostly hostile and partially lustful gaze James Potter had fixed upon her.

"I would go so far as to say, Padfoot, that pranking is something I do very well, wouldn't you?" James asked, watching the way Evans flicked her long red hair over her shoulder, catching the light and drawing the attention of most of the boys within the room.

James would be sure she had no idea how captivating her beauty truly was, had he not gone out of his way to insist to her most days since he'd been thirteen that she was, indeed, breathtaking. Not that the vicious little nymph ever listened to a word James had to say excepting the one time he'd had the misfortune to have captured her attention while saying something wildly inappropriate about how he wanted to taste every freckle upon her body.

"You're finally going to prank her?" Sirius asked, his excitement spiking so much it was a wonder he wasn't wagging his tail.

"By the time I'm through with her, she's either going to punch me all over again, or she's going to marry me," James declared, smirking slowly.

"I'll keep some dittany on hand then, shall I?" Moony piped up from James's other side while Peter began to snigger at the very idea.

"Eat me, Moony," James retorted, "Right, here's what I'm thinking…"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Lily Evans woke to the cruel reality that it may or may not have been a mistake to punch one, James Potter, right in the face. Not that she had any definitive proof that James Potter had somehow snuck into her dormitory and stolen all of her things. James Potter also may or may not have been behind the fact that Lily Evans screamed like a banshee when she tried to sit up in her bed only to find all of her hair twisted into tight knots around the headboard of her four-post bed, thus almost scalping her.

She may or may not have found herself cursing and muttering about what a complete toe-rag James Potter happened to be and she may or may not have begun to think that she already missed the days when Potter's crush kept him from pranking her. Not that she would ever be admitting out loud – to _anyone_ – that she was pleased Potter's infatuation had kept him and his friends from doling out the cruel punishments that the rest of the school was forced to endure when he got it into his head to stir up trouble.

When she did manage to get herself free of the bedposts, Lily Evans discovered the predicament of what it was to have all of her things stolen by one smarmy, smug, arrogant bastard of a Quidditch player. The only clothing she had left that she could don that wasn't her pyjamas – a rather racy silk nightie that she would not be caught dead in outside of her dormitory with the other girls – was an obviously planted declaration of war and simultaneous cruelty.

The only thing among her possessions that he'd left her was a pair of jeans that he'd told her – on more than one occasion – made her arse look fabulous. That was it. Not skirts. No shirts. No dresses. Not even any bloody socks. To add insult to injury the bastard quartet – and she had no doubt that Sirius, Remus and Peter were also in on this little plot – had also made off with all of her underwear, all of her belongings and literally everything she owned. The pictures she'd put up by her bed were missing. Her trunk was missing. And as a Merlin cursed calling card obviously designed to let her know where she might find her belongings and who was responsible for this mess, James bloody Potter had had the audacity to leave her one other garment of clothing that would allow her to escape her racy sleepwear with a little dignity still intact.

His stupid Quidditch jersey.

The name Potter was splashed across the back and front of it and it mocked her as Lily glared at it. She narrowed her eyes and turned her attention to the sleeping spaces of her friends, certain that Alice wouldn't mind letting Lily borrow something.

She screamed when she tried to fish a decent shirt from Alice's collection and the wretched thing transformed into a slimy glob of seaweed until she dropped it. Narrowing her eyes hatefully, Lily turned to Marlene's things. When she picked up one of Marlene's shirts, it transfigured itself into a feather boa. Growling in the back of her throat, Lily suspected the bastard toe-rag had been very thorough indeed with his hexing and she just knew that trying to wear anything but his jersey would likely have ill-fated results.

Muttering foul things under her breath that would make her mother cry, Lily snatched the nightie off over her head and curled her lip in hatred as she pulled Potter's jersey on. She could already hear Severus growling and hissing over the very sight she would make. Glaring hatefully in the mirror for a minute, Lily cursed foully once more before storming down the stairs, determined to make James Potter pay for being such a wretch.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Do you think, maybe, we're taking this a bit too far?" Remus Lupin asked as he watched Lily Evans vibrate with rage three weeks later as her bag split at the seams for the umpteenth time that day.

"No," Sirius shrugged tucking his wand back into his pocket after having hexed the red-head. Again.

"She's going to crack," Remus warned.

James stayed silent on the matter. The little red-head he was so in love with was more resilient than he'd given her credit for. He hadn't allowed her to wear anything but those jeans and his jersey for weeks. She'd been in trouble with all of her teachers as a result. The only thing he let her have was clean underwear and clean socks every day. McGonagall had come at him threatening all kinds of punishment if he didn't return Lily's belongings immediately. James had denied having them or any knowledge of their whereabouts, going so far as to allow his Head of House to search their entire dormitory to 'prove' that he hadn't taken them.

He and Sirius had managed to convince old Minnie that he'd given Lily his jersey in a gentlemanly display of chivalry to protect her modesty and keep her from having to walk around topless. Lily had snapped, snarled, screamed and shouted at all four of them, demanding they give back her possessions and accusing them of being behind every misfortune she had suffered since the time James had finally decided that he was done protecting Lily from their pranking if she was going to be so ungrateful as to punch him in the face just because he happened to have an incurable infatuation with the witch.

"She's going to cry," Peter warned, watching the way Lily's shoulders tensed and she tipped her head back to look at the ceiling, clearly reaching for the patience it took to keep from doing just that. This was the fourteenth time since breakfast that they'd split her bag open. Trip jinxes, hexes to make her notes illegible, jinxes to make her hair stand on end. All the annoying little things that James had protected her from for the past five years of their schooling were being doled out to Lily Evans and he knew she was close to breaking down over it.

He knew because he knew everything about the little witch and he could tell from the way her face had twitched during Charms that she was close to breaking point. To make matters worse for her, James hadn't acted to prevent all others from attacking or pranking her either – something he'd been doing since first year when he'd first learned she was muggleborn. Everyone had grown wary of what they did or said to Lily Evans, fearful of the wrath the Marauders would rain down on them should James hear anyone had tormented her. Without his protection, she was at the mercy of their peers in addition to him and his friends and already her association with Snivellus had bought her more hexing than anyone but Snivellus himself, who was similarly suffering the torment of James's foul mood over what he was doing to Lily, even as he continued to torment her.

"She's spent too long taking advantage of my protection and being entirely ungrateful," James shrugged unrepentantly when both Remus and Peter slanted curious and worried glances in his direction as Lily bent down to once again gather up her possessions.

She'd already taken to carrying muggle pens instead of a quill and inkwell because of the number of times her few things she could still access – all of them snuck back into her dormitory by James every night when he wanted to allow or disallow her certain things – had been ruined. She was only carrying one book to take notes in for all of her classes, despite their impending OWLs, having grown tired of needing to pick up so many things from the floor when they all spilled free every time she wasn't paying attention and shielding herself against being hexed.

The fact was that James felt wretched watching her be tortured but he was done, curse it all. Done! He'd spent years making an arse of himself for this witch, trying everything he could think of to garner her attention or to get her to fall for him. And all he ever got out of it was a healthy dose of embarrassment, a punctured ego and a punch in the bloody mouth. If she wasn't going to realise that he was more than just an annoying git who asked her out every other day, well, then she would learn just what _not_ being adored by him felt like.

On one level, James knew that torturing her this way would only result in her hating him more and that any chance he had of convincing her to love him back was likely shot to hell by now, but damn it all, he'd had enough. A wizard could only take so much humiliation and rejection before he lost his cool. And James Potter had officially lost his cool. If Evans cried, well, then, she cried.

Blast it all.

Scrubbing his hand through his own messy hair in frustration, James turned his back on the witch still gathering her things and trying to repair her bag before he strolled away down the corridor without looking back.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Lily had had it. She was done. She couldn't take it anymore. Everywhere she went, she was badgered and hexed. Everyone was laughing at the fact that she'd been wearing the same change of clothes for weeks – washed everyday while she slept, returned without her knowledge, clean pressed and perfectly folded at the end of her bed along with clean underwear and clean socks. Everyone was pulling pranks on her, insulting her, picking on her, generally being unkind and scornful in their treatment of her and she didn't think she could take anymore.

Potter had made his point loud and clear that for all that she whinged and bitched, for all that she wished he would get over his stupid crush on her and leave her alone, he clearly did more for her than she'd realised. Sure, he and his stupid friends were behind most of the hexes and pranks she endured, but more than a third of them were coming from other people. Other witches who'd been jealous of his interest in Lily herself, many of them too fearful to say anything or pick a fight until it looked like James had finally gotten over her. Others who hated her for her blood status or because she outwitted them in class or because she was still friends with Severus, despite them being sorted into rivalry houses.

She'd been hexed. Jinxed. Slapped. Kicked. Verbally scorned. Screeched at. Yesterday Isabella Carrow had sneered at he for a full fifteen minutes about how she was a no good little mudblood who didn't deserve the attention or affection of someone like Potter and how it was high time she scuttled back to the muggle world. She'd been teased relentlessly about how James had finally gotten over his crush on her.

And through it all, Potter let it happen. He looked on indifferently, where before he'd have stepped in and stood up for her against blood prejudice. He aimed his wand at her and he hexed her to make her bag split, or to make her hair stand on end, or to make her dangle by her ankles in mid-air. He let Sirius hex her to make her trip over her own feet ten times a day until she had ripped jeans and bloodied knees. He'd even weaselled his way out of being accused of stealing her things by telling McGonagall that he'd given her his jersey to wear to protect her modesty until her things could be 'found'.

Lily _knew_ he had them. She knew it was him sneaking into her dormitory every night and giving her clean knickers to wear and making sure she had the books she'd need for class each day. He refused to admit it and she'd yet to catch him in the act, or stealing or returning her things, but she _knew_ Potter was behind it. And it frustrated her all the more because, for all that she was suffering as a result of his cruelty, she realised what an ungrateful swot she'd been to him.

Yes, she'd complained that he'd fancied her and she'd been embarrassed when he'd gone out of his way to provide extravagant displays of affection. It drove her mad when he ruffled his messy hair, never allowing it to lie flat. It bugged her that he was so arrogant in his abilities as a Quidditch player and a wizard. It outright infuriated her that he'd been picking on Severus since first year just because Sev also rather fancied her and because Sev was her friend.

What she hadn't noticed in all that time, was that he was unerringly kind to her. That he went out of his way to hold doors for her, or save her a seat, or just generally to have something nice to say to cheer her up when she was feeling down, missing her parents or worried about a grade. What was worse was that she'd never before noticed that, for all that he maddened her, he always used his sense of humour to improve her mood or to divert her attention to loathing him or griping about him rather than letting something else upset her.

In all the time she'd known him, she'd thought him arrogant and annoying, something to be embarrassed over because of the way he unfalteringly bounced back every single time she rejected his advances. She'd been certain he only hounded her for a date so relentlessly because he thought it was a laugh. Why else would he so quickly bounce back every time she told him to stuff his head in a cauldron or to go snog Black in a broom cupboard instead?

She'd been offended that he could take no for an answer, turn right around and ask again as though her refusal didn't affect him. She'd believed him beyond conceited because he cared so little about her opinion of him that he kept right on asking her out every other day. Lily had never imagined there would come a day when he would give up and let the wolves have her. The idea that not only was he pranking her himself – something he'd never directly done before – but also allowing his idiot friends and the rest of the school prank her so often spoke worlds of how put out he was over being punched and continually rejected.

And Lily hated him all the more for the fact that it was obviously his goal to make her realise that she was a bit of a bitch and that he was actually pretty decent to her. She didn't want to realise that he was good to her and that he must genuinely care about her, despite the number of times she shouted at him for being such a tosser. She didn't want to acknowledge the fact that she was miserable with the way everyone else was teasing her and tormenting her now that he'd withdrawn his protection of her. She certainly didn't want to be sitting there thinking that she ought to apologise to him and feeling like she ought to be grateful to the big git for all he'd done in the past.

Especially given that he was the one responsible for the mess she was in now. It was his fault she was suffering because he'd decided to prank her. It was his fault the other girls who fancied him were hounding her and being mean because he'd fancied her instead of them. It was his fault she was so utterly miserable.

Glancing across the common room, Lily spotted the messy-haired Chaser sitting before the fire, his head bent over what she suspected was homework. Remus had gone to bed, his condition that he thought he hid so well from everyone taking its toll upon him. Sirius had snuck out of the common room more than an hour ago, undoubtedly to meet up with whichever girl he'd sweet-talked into shagging him tonight. She had no idea where Peter was, though if she had to guess, she'd say he'd either snuck off to the kitchens to feed his face, or he'd have gone to bed when he couldn't convince James to go to the kitchens with him.

Lily blinked when she noticed that the common room was actually deserted, but for the two of them. It was unusual for Potter to be up late enough that the common room emptied. Ordinarily the Marauders – as they called themselves – were the life of the party and no one went to bed before they did lest they miss something funny. Biting her lip and glancing around the room to be certain it was empty, Lily found herself doing something she'd never done before.

Approaching James Potter with intention of something other than yelling at him. Climbing to her feet, Lily stretched languidly before fussing with her hair for a moment, trying to get it all out of her face. She walked carefully, being sure to place her feet silently as she approached theback of his chair and peered over it, trying to see what he was working on. His Herbology essay, by the looks of things. That was unusual. The Marauders tended to get their homework done in class or in places outside of the common room, leaving more time for chatter, pranks and being the centre of attention so often, so to see him working on it – when it wasn't even due for three more weeks – made her think he was merely working on it for a distraction.

Sighing softly, she wondered if the way he'd been treating her was eating at him. Did it bother him to have to watch her being picked on without interfering? Had he truly fallen out of his infatuation with her? Lily wanted to find out.

Rounding the couch quietly, Lily did something else she'd never done before. She dropped down on the cushion beside him, close enough that their elbows brushed lightly. James didn't even bother looking up for several long minutes, obviously distracted by his homework and perhaps thinking she must be Sirius returning from his romp rather than her.

"Have fun with that one, then?" he asked conversationally without taking his eyes off his paper.

Lily smiled softly as she listened to the way he spoke, never having noticed before that there was always a certain warmth in his tone when he spoke to his friends, as he obviously thought he was doing right then.

"Actually, I found the Herbology essay rather boring," Lily replied, just as conversationally.

James's head snapped sideways so fast she suspected he would have whiplash.

"Evans?" he gasped, gaping at her in shock.

"Potter," Lily replied, leaning back against the couch and eyeing him.

"What are you… shit, I thought you were Sirius," he gulped.

"Yes, I know," Lily chuckled.

"What are you doing sitting with me and talking to me, Evans?" he asked, seeming to regain his wits after his surprise and Lily could almost see the way he forced himself to close down emotionally.

Lily twisted a lock of her long red hair around her finger for a long moment while she eyed him, watching him watch her.

"I wanted to ask that when you bring my things to my room tonight, you recall that more than one of the people in your life have to deal with 'that time of the month'," Lily drawled at him, hiding her smirk at the way he tensed at her reference to Remus and to the female reproductive cycle.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you that I didn't take your things, Evans," Potter began, ruffling his hair and obviously deciding to play off her comment about Remus by ignoring it completely.

"No, of course you didn't," Lily replied, "However, when you _do_ bring my fresh clothing, please remember them or you actually will get to see me cry when I ruin my knickers and my jeans and the whole school is forced to endure the realisation that teenaged girls do, in fact, menstruate."

James's cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink as he eyed her for the way she didn't sound cross with him and was pretending she wasn't embarrassed over needing to tell him since it not only meant admitting to something she'd been taught all her life to keep secret, but it also meant admitting defeat. Defeat in that she had accepted that he had her things and that he would make her suffer until he felt she'd learned her lesson or paid her dues or his anger was spent. Defeat in the realisation that further screaming at him and arguing with him about her things would change nothing. Defeat in realising that she was so very tired of fighting with him about everything.

As she stared at him right in that moment, Lily found herself thinking that she really had spent almost the entire time she'd known him, fighting with him. And she was tired of it. Tired of arguing. Tired of insulting him. Tired of watching him bounce back every time she rejected him.

His brow furrowed as he peered into her face for a long moment, his hazel eyes dancing over her worriedly and Lily felt the strangest little stir of something inside her chest. He still cared. More than he was letting on. She could see it in his eyes right then and it occurred to her that she'd never really looked into his eyes before. He was always laughing, teasing, picking on people or otherwise being an arrogant toe-rag and Lily had never looked past it to the boy underneath who obviously had feelings for her.

Deep feelings, if the way he reached up slowly, almost hesitantly, to skim the backs of his fingers over her cheek while he looked at her like that was any indication. Lily held perfectly still as he touched her – the first time he'd ever done so since she'd always slapped him away every time he'd tried to touch her in the past.

"You've been so rundown lately, I missed the signs," he murmured softly, his eyes searching hers.

Lily felt her cheeks grow warm when she realised that he meant he'd missed the signs that she was PMSing. She didn't know if she should be flattered or mortified that he clearly knew he well enough to be able to work out when she was on the rag.

"Do you need your things now?" he went on, his frown deepening.

Lily realised from the way he asked so tenderly, obviously not at all embarrassed to be discussing her menstrual cycle and what she needed for it, that James Potter was not only in love with her, he was mature about it. He wasn't suffering the type of silly crush other boys had intimated. He wasn't blushing or uncomfortable discussing natural things her body did and Lily realised that not only was he mature enough to discuss whether or not she needed tampons and if he should fetch them; he was also hopelessly in love with her. To the point where he loved everything about her, not just the way she looked, or how clever she was or the positive things about her personality.

James Potter loved the ugly bits. He loved the cranky, moody, wretched girl she could be when she was in a foul mood or PMSing or just generally being grumpy. He loved the parts of her that the romance books didn't write about. She'd bet that if she were to point out to him that she'd not shaved her legs in a month because he'd confiscated her razor along with the rest of her possessions, he wouldn't be grossed out by how furry she was. Merlin, Lily would be willing to bet that if she were to vomit right that second, all over his essay and all over him, he wouldn't even be upset with her. He'd just want to make sure she was alright.

And that made her pause.

"I don't need them right this second, no," she whispered, looking at her lap for a moment while he traced her jawline with his fingers.

"Do you need the pain medicine you take for the cramps?" he asked.

Lily looked up again, surprised to know he knew about them. She wouldn't at all put it past him to have gone through her things when he'd taken them, but she got the feeling that he didn't know about the muggle pain tablets she usually took for her cramps because he'd raided her things. He knew because he paid close enough attention to her to notice the way she pulled pained expression when the cramps hit unexpectedly, or to catch her taking them in class or at dinner.

She shook her head.

"Not right now," she said. "But I will need them soon."

James nodded his head, his brow still furrowed with concern as he stared at her. The fact that he loved her rattled Lily. She knew that he'd been rather infatuated with her. How could she not, when he asked her out every other day? When he went out of his way to insist that she was beautiful or funny or adorable, even when she wasn't? She'd just never considered him capable of the maturity to really love someone at all, let alone to love her as deeply as he seemed to.

"Can I ask you something, Potter?" Lily said, her breath hitching when he hand trailed the length of her jaw before he used the pad of his thumb to trace the shape of her lips, almost absentmindedly, as though he didn't realise he was caressing her as he focused his full attention upon her.

"If it's to know how Minnie searched our entire dormitory and didn't find your things, then no," he replied, a faint smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Lily shook her head.

"It's not about that," she said.

"Then ask away, beautiful," he murmured, and Lily blushed at the complimentary endearment she'd never heard him use before.

"Why me?" she asked him quietly. "Of all the girls in the entire school – most of whom are rather taken with you – why are you so interested in _me_?"

One corner of his mouth pulled up into a crooked smirk.

"Fishing for compliments, Evans?" he chuckled. "Who said I'm interested in you? You punched me in the mouth, remember?"

Lily blushed again, looking at his lip.

"I shouldn't have done that," she said in a small voice, "I… Usually I just block you out when you get stupid like that, but everybody heard it and all the girls were looking scandalised and… well, you can't just go blurting out that you want to know what every freckle on my entire body tastes like, and want to know if the carpet matches the drapes, Potter! That's hardly polite."

He had the decency to look contrite for what he'd said.

"I shouldn't have blurted it out like that, no," he agreed. "Though my recognition of that fact does not make it any less true."

"Potter!" Lily hissed, swatting him lightly on the arm for his words, her cheeks positively glowing now.

"Listen, Lily-pad," James chuckled again. "You don't get to ask me why I fancy you so much when there are other birds in this place who are actually interested in me and who don't loathe me, and then blush and swat at me and be all embarrassed when I admit to fancying you and desiring you."

Lily was sure that she could fry eggs upon her face, it was so hot from how hard she blushed at his words. He grinned at her when she searched his face for a moment before looking away, suddenly feeling shy.

"You actually fancy me?" she whispered.

James snorted.

"Was that not clear?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Not really, with the way you've been treating me since I punched you," she admitted. "And honestly, with the way you always just brush it off every time I say no when you ask me on dates, I sort of thought you were just asking me for a laugh. You don't actually seem to care when I say no, though that could be your excessive arrogance."

"I'm really not as bad as you make me out to be, you know?" he rolled his eyes at her words, "And trust me when I say I don't just 'brush it off' every time you crush my heart and reject me, Evans."

"You do so," Lily rolled her eyes, "You asked again the next day – sometimes you've even asked within the same hour of having me say no, Potter."

"You ever think I have a reputation to maintain that involves me not looking like a lovesick, heartbroken sap?" he asked eyeing her curiously. "Or that letting people think you crush me every time you tell me to piss off would see me taunted for being rejected, potentially see you injured by my fans, and be leverage to those who might like to manipulate me by hurting you if they realise how bloody much I care about you?"

"So you fake indifference to protect your reputation?" Lily asked sceptically.

"What other option do I have?" James asked her quietly. "It's not like you're ever going to say yes when I ask you out. So I ask anyway and I expect the rejection these days. Still hurts, but I can brace for the blow."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"And yet you've been pranking me, and have stolen all of my belongings, and been letting me suffer at the hands of all the cows who fancy you and think you've finally gotten over me," Lily said, aware that she sounded a little bitter.

"That's your PMS talking," he chuckled.

"Not the wisest thing to say to hormonal and potentially homicidal females, Potter," Lily laughed in spite of herself.

"Well it was that or asking you out again," James shrugged.

Lily stared at him for a moment, shaking her head in bewilderment at his attitude and she watched the way he watched her for a moment before he looked down for a minute, a sad smile pulling at his mouth and the briefest hint of a frown marring his brow once more. Sitting this close and watching him this intently, Lily recognised that it actually was a blow to him when she rejected him.

"Potter, I…." Lily bit her lip, watching him as he lifted his eyes to meet her gaze once more.

She didn't know what to make of it all. The idea that he actually did love her suddenly seemed so obvious and so hard to ignore. Worse, he didn't just love her the way boys like Sirius would – a passing infatuation or simply with an intention of getting into her knickers. James Potter loved her so much that even when she rejected him and hurt him by doing so, he pretended she hadn't in case people were mean to her for hurting him. Biting her lip with indecision and more than a little fear, Lily seized on her courage and did something she'd never have thought she would ever do.

She leaned forwards and pressed her lips to James Potter's lips.

He was so shocked by the action that for almost a full thirty seconds, he didn't move. His breath caught in his throat and he seemed frozen in his surprised. Lily felt stupid and she made to pull away, her cheeks flooding once more as she did so, horrified with herself for just leaning over and kissing him like that.

Before she could move far, his hand on her cheek slipped down slightly to cup the side of her neck and pull her back into him. Lily squeaked in surprise when he kissed her carefully. His lips were warm, and softer than she'd expected them to be. His tongue swept out to trace her lower lip, requesting entrance and Lily didn't know if she should jerk away from him or melt into him completely. Butterflies were rioting in her tummy and she was sure her heart was going to beat right out of her chest, it hammered so hard.

When she opened to him, he swept into her surely, his tongue dancing with hers, stroking, caressing, massaging in a way that Lily had no choice but to melt against him. She found herself leaning into him until her chest brushed against his, her hands coming up of their own accord to tangle into his ridiculously messy hair as she kissed him back. Lily didn't know how long she kissed him.

She knew that her mind went fuzzy and her thoughts scattered and she was breathless when they finally broke apart. She wasn't the only one breathing hard, but Lily felt like she was in a daze.

"Bloody hell," James muttered, sounding beyond ecstatic and grinning from ear to ear when he pulled back far enough to look at her. Lily blushed all over again at how utterly pleased he looked simply to have snogged her. He looked like he'd just been given everything he ever wanted.

Maybe he had.

"Does this mean you'll be my girlfriend?" he asked her hopefully, his hazel eyes positively gleaming with happiness.

"I…" Lily blinked stupidly for a moment before she frowned. "I can't just start dating you, Potter. Everyone will think I'm only doing it to keep you from continuing to prank me."

He frowned too.

"Are you?" he asked, suddenly looking like she'd actually hurt him with her suggestion and like he doubted that she'd snogged him simply because she wanted to, rather than as a part of some nefarious plot.

"If I say 'no'?" Lily said in a small voice.

"Is it a lie?" James asked, letting his hand drop from her cheek before his fist clenched and he looked away from her, his jaw tightening as though she'd actually hurt his feelings now.

Lily bit her lip again, finding it plump and tender after his enthusiastic snogging. She wrinkled her own brow as she stared at him for a minute.

"It's not a lie, James," Lily murmured softly after a long pause as she thought it over. "Go ahead and keep all my things and keep pranking me, if you want to. I'm not trying to bribe you into stopping by snogging you."

"And if I snog you again but still keep them?" he challenged, looking over to meet her gaze once more.

Lily shrugged at him in return. "I won't object."

He blinked at her in shock for a minute.

"You won't object, but you won't be my girlfriend either, will you?" he asked, frowning at her.

"Do you want to have the whole school saying that your 'girlfriend' is only dating you to make you stop being mean to me?" she asked.

"Do you think I'm going to stop pranking you just because you agree to be my girlfriend?" James asked in reply, raising his eyes and beginning to smirk at her.

"They'll accuse me of trying to manipulate you or to bribe you with sex or something," Lily told him cautiously.

James rolled his eyes. "As thought what they say matters if it's not true? Honestly Evans, how someone can be friends with Snivellus and still care what others think is beyond me."

"You realise that if I were to agree to dating you, you'd have to stop picking on him and being horrible to him, don't you?" Lily asked.

"You realise you can't bribe me to be nice to Snivellus, no matter what you offer, don't you?" James retorted, grinning wickedly now.

"No?" she asked challengingly, raising one eyebrow, a little smirk of her own crawling across her face. "No even if I do this?"

She leaned towards him and pressed her lips to his once more, kissing him surely and nibbling on his lower lip until he sunk his hands into her loose red hair. When she pulled away they were both panting.

"Not even if you do that," he managed when he'd caught his breath. "Now, are you going to be my bloody girlfriend or not, Evans? And keep in mind that if you say no again after snogging me like that, I'm actually likely to give up all bravado and go sob in my dormitory like a bloody sap."

Lily giggled at the very idea, wondering what had gotten into her that she was even entertaining the idea.


End file.
